Freezing problem on Mac in Google docs

Branka Vasilic
My Zotero recently started freezing. This has never happened in four years I have been using it in Google doc on Mac computer. Any advice, please?
  • dstillman
    Could you say more about what exactly is happening, and when? (Zotero's Google Docs support isn't anywhere close to four years old.)
  • Branka Vasilic
    True, I forgot that I started in Word and moved to Google when it became available. Lately, when I go to add/edit citation it starts by opening Zotero page and then the page disappears and I am left with a translucent page over my document and a message that Zotero is processing. This can last for minutes. Most of the time I give up, close the document, close and open Zotero and it works.
  • adomasven
    Zotero is not frozen, but probably trying to display the citation dialog (or document preferences). Sometimes the dialog won't properly focus on top of other windows. After pressing Add/edit citation look through Zotero windows to see if a citation dialog got opened but did not gain focus.
  • Branka Vasilic
    I am not sure what you mean. After pressing Add/edit citation I don't get the citation dialogue, only the red 'updating your document' bar. Is there anything I can do? I have tried closing Zotero and that helps temporarily.
  • Branka Vasilic
    'Selected field txn2Jx not returned from Docs backend'

    Last time I tried I got this message
  • trichner
    I'm experiencing this too. When I add a citation to google docs on mac using the chrome browser, it freezes the entire computer for about 60 seconds. Then everything returns to normal. During a freeze I can move the mouse but I can not click on anything at all.
  • ztweinstein
    This appears to be a new issue, as of the update about a week ago. The Google Doc integration works but it is VERY slow, complete with freezing all actions on my computer until it completes its action. Word's plugin also got significantly slower in the update last week, and this morning's update hasn't helped.
  • brie gettleson
    This week two students reported computer freezing (Mac) when clicking the Zotero icon in Google Docs and then I experienced it during a Zotero demonstration (same as trichner above). Zotero would technically work, but only after a 2-3 minute period of freezing, followed by another 1-2 minutes of freezing after the citation appeared. The plugin in Word worked, but also with a small lag.
  • trichner
    Yes, that describes it well. Thank you ztw
  • dstillman
    Can you provide a Debug ID from Zotero for inserting a citation and getting a freeze and recovery?
  • brie gettleson
    I just replicated the issue: D1563375336
  • adomasven
    Could you open the Activity Monitor and see whether any app is using a lot of CPU during the time of the freeze?
  • brie gettleson
    Google Chrome Helper (renderer) jumps up to 24% CPU during the freeze.
  • Jmklopp
    I am glad to see that this problem is being addressed- i have the same problem!
  • adomasven
    @trichner @brie%20gettleson @Jmklopp Do you still see this? When the freeze happens, if you click on the Zotero window in the dock does the citation window appear immediately?
  • davidflorianjr
    edited December 5, 2020
    @adomasven This is happening to me as well. I click "Add citation" in google docs and the citation entry box opens immediately. I search for my citation and click enter. The superscript immediately pops up in the google doc and then my computer freezes for about 30seconds to a minute. Activity manager also shows Google Chrome Helper jumps to high CPU usage during the freeze.

    Update: It actually freezes immediately after I make a keystroke on the google doc (e.g., adding a space or letter)
  • adomasven
    @davidflorianjr So from what you're describing this seems like a freeze in Google Docs. Is this reproducible every time? Have you tried disabling other extensions in Chrome and see whether it fixes it?

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